Italian church group boycotts gay movie

A Catholic political group in Italy is calling for a boycott of gay movie Good As You.

According to the Militia Christi movement, Mariano Lamberti’s film is a ‘vulgar representation of homosexuality, with which the author wants to equalize the union between two men to that between a man and a woman.’

Good As You will be released in 60 Italian cinemas tomorrow (6 April) and Militia Christi has sent letters to the owners of the cinemas screening the film and its star Lorenzo Balducci.

Protests over the film have erupted across the country, including at a preview at a cinema in Palermo, Sicily, yesterday (4 April).

The Catholic Church in Italy has a long history of opposing LGBT rights and has recently spoken out against marriage.

Good As You features four stories of gay couples struggling with the problems of life.

Italy does not have a long history of LGBT-friendly films. One of the most high profile directors to make films about LGBT life was Ferzan Ozpetek, a Rome-based Turkish artist. In the past, gay characters were only presented as peculiar or figures of ridicule.